Top/bottom bars won't disappear when playing a film

[MichaelR7]

Hi all, when i watch a movie the bars at the bottom and the top won't disappear, they just stay up and it doesn't look right, can the tech people help out with this? Only the movie and subtitles (if i need to have them on) should be up on the screen, nothing else obstructing the viewing experience. Tha

[gavs82008]

@MichaelR7 

Best to report to staff via live chat. You need to make sure to click "chat online" within the green box, Don't hit "get help quicker" as this is a bot.
https://help.nowtv.com/article/how-to-submit-a-complaint

Alternatively you can email support with pictures.
customer services @ now tv . uk (ensure no spaces)

[MichaelR7]

Cheers Gavs.

[Mark_Weinreb]

@MichaelR7 

If a film is shot in CinemaScope®️, you will almost always get bars top and bottom. If it’s happening on all films, you might need to adjust the overscan settings on your tv, assuming the option exists.

[RoyB]

@MichaelR7 

What is the aspect ratio of the device you are watching on?

Traditional: 4:3 (12:9)

Widescreen: 16:9

Quite popular lately: 22:9

To fit a 22:9 movie on a 16:9 screen, and maintain the correct aspect ratio, it has to be shown at 16:((16/22)*9), which is 16:6.54, and will therefore have 16:1.23 black bars above and below it.

On a 4:3 screen, the black bars will be even thicker; it is left as an exercise for the reader to calculate exactly how much thicker they will be.

Alternatives to this are to expand the picture by 1.375 (more for 4:3; it is left etc. etc.), thus filling the screen but cutting off the left and right extremities to maintain the aspect ratio, or just expanding the vertical dimension to fill the screen, thus abandoning the correct aspect ratio, and populating the movie with very tall, very thin people.

I’m sure Windows has picture settings to let you try these things. However, it may have escaped your attention that quite often the subtitles on 22:9 movies take advantage of the bottom black band to put the subtitles there without obscuring the picture,